Garden lighting design can take your outdoor living space from boring and typical to something extraordinary. With outside lighting for trees and shrubs, you can give your exterior space plenty of personality and make it a place you want to spend time.
Below, we offer some tips and tricks for incorporating lights for outdoor trees and shrubs into your garden.
Understanding Garden Lighting
Outdoor lighting is similar to indoor lighting in that there are many fixtures and styles you can incorporate into the space for different purposes. Before you choose the lights for your garden, you should first get a good understanding of what you want to achieve.
For some people, a well-lit garden is needed for safety and security purposes. Lots of lights in the garden make it harder for intruders to sneak onto your property by giving them fewer shadows to hide in. Besides deterring criminal activity, it may also make it easier for your CCTV to record any suspicious activity happening.
For most others, garden lighting is a way to aesthetically improve their outdoor living area. With so many styles of lights and techniques to incorporate, tree and shrub lights add personality and drama to an outdoor living space. You can highlight certain areas of the garden or instead give the entire thing a whimsical look with the right approach.
Choosing the Right Fixtures for Lighting Trees and Shrubs
Before you go installing lights in trees and shrubs, you should first explore all of your lighting options to decide which fixture will be best for you.
- Spike spotlights are a type of under tree lighting that provides a focused beam of illumination. They are commonly used by placing them on the ground and shining up the tree or shrub.
- With a wider beam angle, floodlights are good for shining down over trees. They are also ideal for lighting large sections of shrubs thanks to their wider spread of illumination.
- WELL LIGHTS. Well lights, otherwise known as recessed ground lights, are a slimline and subtle style of outdoor light. They, too, shine up under trees, providing illumination without the fixture itself being visible.
- STRING LIGHTS. If you want to add a more whimsical look to your garden, turn to string lights. By draping strings of LED bulbs, you can light up trees in a more casual but still aesthetically pleasing manner.
Popular Lighting Techniques for Trees and Shrubs
Once you know what kinds of lights for a tree or shrub you want to include, you can start thinking about how to actually implement them. There are a few lighting techniques that are always trendy and perfect for your garden.
Uplighting
Uplighting trees is the process of shining illumination from the base of an element, in this case, a tree. Lights are aimed upwards at the tree to draw attention to both its structure and its height. For a large outdoor tree, lights in this style help you show off the overall size of the arbor, making it look more impressive.
Downlighting
The reverse of outdoor uplighters for tree features is downlighting. Also known as moonlighting due to the way it mimics moonlight shining through the leaves, downlights are pointed down onto the trees from above. They create a dappled effect that is particularly beautiful over larger canopies.
Silhouetting
By placing in ground lights behind a tree to shine on a wall behind it, you can emphasize the silhouette of the tree. Adding purposeful shadows like this can create a sense of drama in your outdoor space and enhance its visual appeal.
Grazing
When you place spike lights close to the surface of the shrub or tree, you can show off the finer details. These lights graze the textured surfaces of leaves, branches and bark to draw attention to its texture.
How to Position Tree Lighting
The proper placement of a tree uplight will usually depend on the size of the tree itself.
Smaller trees will benefit from a singular uplight positioned at about 35 degrees. Be sure to place the light on each side of the tree that it will be viewed from. With this in mind, you may need more than one light to illuminate smaller trees from different angles. Place the lights close to the tree to give it a grazing effect.
Medium sized trees work well with cross-lighting techniques. Using two spotlights or other outdoor floor lights, direct the illumination at the canopy. Be sure that the lights cross over one another for the best effect. Make the most of the size of the tree by placing the lights close enough to graze the trunk.
For larger trees, you can go a little wider with the beam and still place it close to the tree. You may need several lights around the tree shining upwards, depending on just how large the tree is. Point them just slightly away from the trunk and into the canopy for best results.
If you want to moonlight a larger arbor, you might be wondering how to put lights on a tree directly. You will most likely need tree mount kits that come with screws and rubber straps to position the lights according to the instructions. You can also install lights in a structure above the tree to shine down on it, such as soffit lights.
Selecting the Right Colour Temperature
Outdoor tree lights come in a variety of different colour temperatures for you to consider. Colour temperature is simply a way to refer to the warmth or coolness of a light. The temperatures exist on a spectrum ranging between 1,000 and 10,000 kevin. The higher the rating, the cooler the light; the lower the rating, the warmer the light.
The colour temperature that you choose for your tree and shrub lighting ultimately comes down to preference. Still, there are things to consider when making this choice.
Warm white light between 2700K and 3300K creates a soft, amber glow that is great for creating a more inviting and cosy mood. This temperature is particularly beneficial if your main goal is to make your outdoor living space more comfortable for entertaining and relaxing. It is gentler on the eyes while still providing plenty of light to see by.
Cool white lights between 4000K and 5000K, on the other hand, are brighter and crisper. They offer a more contemporary look that is vibrant and energetic. Oftentimes, cool light will be used to highlight architectural features, like statues and sculptures, in the garden. It is also preferred by people who are interested in security lighting above all else.
Tips for Shrub Lighting
When it comes to shrub lighting in particular, you want to draw as much attention to these shorter garden elements as their taller counterparts. Softly lit shrubs provide beautiful indirect lighting, or they can become a focal point, depending on how you play it.
Generally speaking, it is recommended that your shrub lights are soft and warm. This will help avoid overwhelming your garden with too much light, especially if you have many shrubs you want to illuminate.
The most popular way to light a shrub is to use a spotlight pointed at a 30 to 45 degree angle. Doing so will draw the eye to the general greenery and shape without leaving behind any harsh glare.
If the shrub is short and wide, wider spotlights or even flood lights will illuminate the plants best. Place it at the base to provide brighter lighting that fades naturally up the height of the shrub. Conversely, tall, thin shrubs will work best with a spotlight that has a smaller beam angle.
How to Maintain Tree Lighting
Maintaining tree lighting is the same as maintaining any other type of exterior lamps. Before you even buy the fixtures, you can cut down on some of the future maintenance by getting IP rated lights.
Since outdoor lamps are exposed to wind, rain and sun, you'll need to ensure they are protected from the elements. Choosing IP65 waterproof rated lights or higher will ensure they do not take on moisture damage or damage from dirt and soil.
With this preventative maintenance taken care of, you can do periodic maintenance on the rest of the fixtures. Periodically walk around the garden and check the lights for issues such as:
- cracked casing
- burned out bulbs
- caked on dirt
If you notice these or any other issues, take care of them quickly to get the most out of your lights’ lifespan. Cleaning the fixtures is as simple as wiping off the dirt and debris with a soft brush. For particularly dirty fixtures, a soft cloth slightly dampened should do the trick. Avoid using harsh cleaning solutions on the fixtures so as not to damage them.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
When lighting your garden, take care to avoid these common outdoor lighting mistakes homeowners often make.
Overlighting the garden. You may be tempted to approach the garden lighting design enthusiastically, but be careful you don't overwhelm the space. Too much light can wash out the trees and shrubs in the garden and make it hard to see. It may also reduce some of the dramatic impact of tree lighting if every single feature in the garden is brightly lit.
Using the wrong colour temperature. Make sure you think about the colour temperature you want to use, and then deploy it consistently throughout the garden.
Do not mix warm and cool colour temperatures together. Mixing colour temperatures can cause an abrasive clash that is harsh on the eyes and detracts from the atmosphere of the garden.
Not supplementing with other lights. If you only have lights uplighting trees and shrubs, you will create little islands of light. This may leave the garden as a whole underlit. By incorporating path lights, buried ground lights, waterproof exterior wall lights and other fixtures, you can layer the lighting and create a well balanced look. This process is also known as layering lights.
Conclusion
Lighting your tree and shrubs allows you to dress up your outdoor space, giving it personality and presence. Follow the guide above to incorporate tree lighting into your garden and make it a truly impressive place to be.
